Lumox: Pride
by selena1234
Summary: When Death makes a deal, do you deny? 5 year old Tom Marvolo Riddle accepted a deal from Death, allowing himself to be launched forward into the future, where he'll go around collecting and piecing the Horcruxes together with the help of Harry Potter and five others. Dumbledore's not going to make the same mistake twice, either, and is planning on truly becoming Manipulative!Dmble
1. Death

**Okay. Lumox. The title will be explained much further in the future (or later this chapter). Thanksies to Joshsies for Betasies. **

"**Wait, what?" – Amazing inspiring words from Josh. **

**I also would like to apologize, as the first chapter is told in snippets. **

**XxXxX**

Tom Marvolo Riddle was having a horrible day, and his day was only going to get worse. At age 4, nearly 5, he had been on the receiving end of more than enough punches, and he was sick of it! So today, he decided to fight back.

Sore, bruised, bleeding and broken, we join Tom on December 25th when he was limping his way back to the orphanage. His lonely trek was interrupted as he passed a shadow, where a hand reached out and grabbed the collar of his faded green sweater.

XxXxX

Voldemort was overjoyed. He had send Quirrel back in time to his younger – and whole – self, telling the weak fool to bring Tom back to him. It had taken Voldemort four years, three libraries, and forty-seven dead bodies, but he finally did it. He succeeded.

In front of the Dark Lord (in a little muggle-born witch's body), a blood pentagram missing its' last connector line lit up a soft blue. In the center, Tom shimmered into existence.

XxXxX

When Tom had been grabbed and shoved onto the portal, another being had momentarily intercepted him,

Death smiled at the small child. "Hello, Tom."

Tom spun and saw a tall, cloaked figure. Warily, he responded, "Hello. Who're you?"

"I am Death," the figure replied. "You can call me Thanatos, and I have a deal for you."

"What _kind_ of deal?"

Death smiled even wider. "Let me tell you the story of the Dark Lord named Voldemort…"

XxXxX

Harry James Potter, age 5, was not having a merry Christmas. The Dursleys had locked him out of the house, and it was _freezing!_ The fresh cuts scattered upon his arms and back had already frozen over, and had a soft layer of snow coating them. He was sure he had Frostbite by now. After an hour of sitting in the weather, Harry had decided that perhaps an Orphanage _couldn't_ be worse.

Could it?

XxXxX

"…So I'm going to grow up to be a monster."

"Yes," replied Death, "but here is my deal to you. Voldy had summoned you, but I intercepted you. Harry, like I said, had defeated Voldy and he's now a Wraith, stuck inhabiting the bodies of little girls who still like Unicorns. They're the only thing weak enough for him to inhabit. If I let you go all the way through, you'll be stuck 50 years in the future. This is where the deal comes in. If you accept, I'll take your soul for safe-keeping so neither you nor Voldy will have their powers drained due to the paradox. You can't live without a soul, however, so as soon as you step out, you'll have to take the small shard that Voldy still possesses. You'd have him speaking in your mind, but that's all he would be able to do unless you let him do more, but you'd ultimately be in charge of your own mind and body. If you don't accept, I'll wipe your mind and send you forward anyways. Again, if you accepted, you'd feel a pull to the other shard pieces that are scattered in the locations I told you. If one gets destroyed, I'll take what you gathered, give you your soul back, and shove you back to where you were taken from just as you left it. If you collect all of them, and I'm sure it'll take a while, then you can either stay in that time zone, or come chill on Death Isle with me. I'd exchange Voldy's repaired soul for yours, and send Voldy back to where you were taken from. Deal?"

Tom considered it.

"Yes."

He was, after all, not even five yet, and his Slytherin side had yet to fully develop.

XxXxX

Voldemort smiled at his younger self.

Tom smiled mischievously back at his counterpart and pointed his finger at the snake/man/girl/monster. "Lumox."

Voldemort screamed, and the girl he inhabited fainted, **completely intact.** "One down," Tom said, watching as the circle he had just exited lit up again to let Quirrel through. "Six to go."

XxXxX

Harry knocked hesitantly on the door, trying to rub his arms to get some warmth.

A girl answered the door. She looked about seventeen, with long, brown hair, and caring brown eyes.

"Hello, young one. Why are you here? Oh, you must be freezing! You poor thing!" She grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him inside, much to his horror.

There were a few children here and there, all looking at Harry with curious eyes.

The girl grabbed several blankets from a pile in the large room they found themselves in and wrapped them around Harry. She snapped out some orders at the other kids who still looked at Harry, and they quickly went to comply. She then rushed back over to him and sat him in front of the roaring fireplace. The heat hurt, after being in such cold weather for so long, but he was slowly thawing.

After a few minutes, a small child, older than Harry, walked over and handed the frozen boy-who-lived some Hot Chocolate.

He sat there, nursing his drink for a good while before another woman – older, definitely, with the same dark brown hair, but with blue eyes instead – came and sat next to him with her own cup of hot chocolate.

"So," She said, after a minute. "Why are you here, young one?"

"M' 'nt n' 'ncle d'nt like m' v'ry much…" He mumbled into his hot chocolate, not entirely sure that he trusted this lady.

"I'm sorry," She said, "I don't speak Gibber. My daughter does, though. Need I get her to translate?"

"No." He said clearly, clearing his throat. "My aunt and uncle don't like me very much…" He said again, dropping to a whisper by the time his sentence was finished.

"I see. So they threw you out into the snow, and you trekked your way here?"

Harry nodded mutely.

"Verbal, Mister…."

"Freak."

"Excuse me?"

"M' name is Freak, 'cording to them."

"And, sir, what do _you_ think your name is?"  
"The Teachers call m' Harry Potter, I think."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh. I see. Please, tell me more about your Aunt and Uncle's."

"My bedroom's the cupboard under the stairs!" He said proudly. "I can color the walls _all I want _'cause the cubbard is _mine_ and _mine alone!_"

"This will be a long night…" She muttered, setting her long-since cold cup of chocolate.


	2. Harry Potter

**Dear faithful readers: I had to do an english project for a book I've read. So, I cleared it with her to do a fanfiction - this one in fact! It's due on Friday, so I'll have a majillion chapters written for you! Review and you get the next one! :D**

**XxXxX**

Tom smirked at Quirrell after he stepped out of the portal while forcing the very angry Voldemort back into his subconcious.

"Hello, My lord." He said. According to Voldemort, who was angrily ranting, Quirrel had been instructed to follow the younger as if he was the real one - which, had the plan gone according to plan, the younger would have been the real one until Voldy had gotten his body back. When that happened, Tom was to be raised by Voldemort to be his heir, under the guise of Tom Riddle III - as if he would give any heir of his that horrid muggle name!

"Quirrell." Tom said. "Hello." Quirrel watched his young heir walk over to the fallen muggleborn and pick up his older self's wand. "Make sure this girl..." Tom tipped his head slightly to the side, then righted himself before continuing, "Hermione Granger. Take her back to her family. Report back to me when you are done."

Quirrell did as he was asked, then returned to see Tom reading a book from the library that Voldy never touched - Household magic.

"My Lord, I have returned."

"Good, good. Gold star. Now, I'm roughly Harry Potter's age, am I not? Of course I am." Tom bookmarked his spot and slid it back onto the shelf. "When he enters Hogwarts in 5 years, you _have_ to be the DADA teacher. This is an order. You will be competent. You will be a good teacher and actually _teach_ us. As for the rest of this time, I will call you as needed, which should be perhaps once to twice a year to check up on you, make sure you're fine. Other than that, do what you will." Tom focused on the closest tugging of a Horcrux, which seemed to be focused in Surrey. _Why? _Tom wondered. _Death had detailed several Horcruxes and their location, but not one was in Little Whinging. _Tom told Quirrell to find a good room and sleep, which Tom would do as well, and they would meet up again in the morning, where they would start plotting.

XxXxX

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!" Screamed a voice through his Floo. It was nearing midnight on Christmas by this point, and the old wizard had about retired for the night.

"Lovely Grizelda, how may I help you this Merry Christmas?" He asked, popping a Lemon Drop into his mouth.

She stepped through his fireplace, glaring at the old wizard. "Did you know, Albus, that your _saviour of the Wizarding World_ had been living in a _cupboard!?_"

Albus nearly choked on his Lemon Drop.

XxXxX

The next morning, Quirrell found his Lord soring through Voldemort's clothing. He donned a too-large shirt and trousers, both wizarding in origin, but closer to muggle tastes. "Shrink it." He ordered, which Quirrel did. Tom then put on one of Voldemort's winter cloaks - Green, thank you - and ordered Quirrell to take him to Surrey.

When they arrived, Tom thanked Quirrell for his time and made his way to where the tugging was leading him. He happened to pass by a rather large batch of warding.

_Blood Wards, huh? _Voldemort asked in Tom's mind, as he was poking at the warding bubble. _It seems to be tied to one Harry Potter. The bloody brat. _

_Blood Wards? _Tom asked, having never heard of the term. _I don't understand - what are blood wards? And what is this about Harry?_

_Well, _Voldemort said, 'thinking' over his words carefully before 'saying' them. _They're like regular wards, but are created after a sacrifice. In this case, it was Potter's mudblood mother who died to set this up, but it is usually just a rather large sum of blood dropped into some runes. Because the initial caster of the wards had died, the full warding was transfered over to her nearest blood relative. However, these wards are rediculiously weak, so I am assuming whichever relative this was has no love for the boy, and he has no love for them, either. The wards are fully based on intent, and the sacrifice had to be as well. You know, the Potter brat would have been better serving me instead of Dead._

Tom laughed slightly, passing through the weakened wards. So _this_ was Harry Potter's house. Deciding to see if he was there, Tom went up to knock on the door, but paused.

_Why_ don't the boy's relatives like him? Was it because they were muggles, and he a wizard? Or perhaps because the boy is simply a bother and Tom is wasting his time?

Tom finally gathered some nerve and knocked.

The man who answered the door would be better classified as a whale.

"H...ello." He said, drawing out the _H_ sound, as Tom was still rather unsure about this. "I am here to ask if your... nephew, Harry, was here." Tom wasn't actually sure if this whale was his uncle, but it seemed like a safe guess.

"No." The whale said, slamming the door.

_Well, that answers that question._ Tom thought. _Harry Potter is definately disliked for another reason, other than because he was bothersome. _

_Of course, Tom. _Voldemort responded. _Did you see the way his face purpled when you mentioned his nephew? Not to mention how his fists clenched, as if he was looking to punch you for asking - or better yet, to punch Harry for it. Personally, I prefer he punch you. The Potter brat is mine to destroy._

_Save your ranting for when I care._ Tom responded, and followed the tugging to the nearest orphanage, which was a good mile and a half away from Privet Drive.

XxXxX

Harry Potter was having a bad morning. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before, in his new room at the orphanage. This was precisely the reason he didn't sleep much - he had a _room._ He had never had a room before, and Freaks weren't allowed to use furniture like real people. He told the nice Lady as such, and she pursed her lips like 'Tooney did when she was angry. She said a simple, "Do it." but it got her point across. Harry's room was _Harry's _room, despite the extra bed, and Harry was to use the items in it as if it was his cupboard.

He still didn't sleep much, though, which made him tired. Some of the other kids in the orphanage had tried to talk to him, but Harry was very shy.

In fact, no one had gotten more out of Harry than a simple 'Hello' and 'I'm Harry'.

That is, until a new boy came to the Orphanage, by the name of Tom Riddle.

XxXxX

_Son of a-_

_Hey!_ Voldemort interruped. _It wasn't _my _fault that the ritual backfired with the mudblood's magic and he became a Horcrux! It wasn't my intentional plan!_

_You make him sound _normal!_ Did you know you made the single most influential person in this universe into a bloody _Dark Artifact!? Tom screeched mentally at Voldemort, who cringed.

Tom smiled at Harry, then turned to the other mudblood. "So, do we need to hold an interview or something?"

The girl nodded, and pulled him into the same room Harry had used.

_The filthy mudblood is touching you, Tom._

_This is going to be a very long few years with you, isn't it?_


	3. Secrets

"So, where did you live before you came here? You're obviously a Wizard, based on that cloak."

Tom sighed, and quickly came up with a suitable story. "My name is Tom Salazar Riddle," He paused to make sure she didn't react before continuing."The third, and I was born in Little Hangilton. My mother died not long after I was born, leaving me to my wizard father. She was a muggle; I'm a half-blood. He took care of me until recently, where he gave me this cloak - it was his, and very important, he simply shrunk it - and told me to get here quickly. I don't know what happened to him, though... he's probably dead..." Tom made his voice slightly shaky here, as if he was going to cry. Sympathy card.

It worked. "Oh, you poor dear!" She said, pulling Tom in for a hug.

A minute later, Tom pulled away and smiled, even though Voldemort was ranting about washing himself to get the mudblood germs off.

Harry chose this moment to open the door. "Um... Ma'am..." He said, very quietly. Tom's first impression of the Boy-Who-Lived was painfully adorable.

_You're a moron if _that_ is your first impression,_ Voldemort said.

_I'm you. You're the moron._

Voldemort was silent.

"Yes, Harry?" The mudblood said, then made a small 'oh' sound. "Harry, come here." Harry hesitated, glancing at Tom, but walked in, closing the door behind him. "Harry, this is Tom Riddle. Tom, this is Harry Potter."

Tom smiled widly at Harry, and held out his hand. He layered his voice thick with sweetness and said, "Hello, Harry. I hope we can be friends!"

_If I get diabetes, it's all your fault._

_Shush, you. _

"H-Hi." Harry said quietly, grabing Tom's hand and shaking it loosely before snatching his hand back.

_Ah, geez,_ Tom thought, glancing at the small five year old. _We have alot of work to do if we want this plan to work. _

_What is this _we _segment? I still want to destroy him._

_Destroy, Voldy? How could you want to murder Harry? Murdering Harry is like ripping the head off of a Teddy Bear. _

The mudblood smiled. "Well! Now that you two are introduced, you'll be sharing a room. I'm sure you'll be great friends!"

XxXxX

A month later, Tom and Harry had grown closer than brothers. No one saw one without the other, and Harry pretty much attached himself to the barely-older Tom.

Tom had discovered that he could command Voldemort to do things within his mind. So, as his first act, he demanded that Voldemort teach him about the Wizarding World Political system, which was very complex and boring. He then passed the knowledge that they were Wizards onto Harry, who launched into his stuttering "B-but I can't be a.. a wizard! I'm just... Harry!"

Tom's witty remark was "Yeah, okay, _Just Harry, _I'm _Just Tom_ and we're still Wizards."

"But if I'm a - if... if we're _Wizards_, then all of those punishments were useless..."

"... Punishments?" Tom and Voldemort asked in unison - not that Harry could hear Voldemort.

Harry hesitated before nodding. He didn't respond further for another minute, where he was mentally arguing with himself. Finally, his trust in Tom won out, and he spilled. "My Aunt and Uncle always punished me when I was... bad. I did freaky things and they wanted to... _stamp it out of me,_ I think was their wording. If I'm a Wizard, then you can't _stamp out_ M... m..." Harry stuttered and paused several times to get past the fact that he wasn't supposed to say the _M_ word. "Magic."

Tom scowled, reminding Voldemort to remain silent. "What _sort_ of punishments?"

"W-w-w-well," Harry stuttered, growing rather red in the face. "I'm n-not s-s-s-supposed t-to t-t-t-talk about it..."

Tom sighed and pushed the angry Voldemort even further back into his mind. "Please, Harry?" He said, putting all of the pleading he possesed to get the answer. He had been patient this past month to get the answer, as that was the whole reason he wanted to know Harry in the first place. Of course, over the month, Harry had grown on him, and he thought of Harry more like his younger brother, much to Voldemort's anger. Tom constantly teased his mind-buddy that he didn't hate Harry anymore either, as the young wizard definately showed more magical power overall than either of them, and Voldemort had commented several times that Harry would be good on the Dark Side.

Not that Voldemort would admit it, and it's not like Tom disagrees.

"M-m-m-my uncle..." Harry said, very quietly, bringing Tom out of his memories, "He'd sometimes... _He'dsometimesuseabeltonme._" Harry said it very fast - so fast, that Tom and Voldemort both had to go over his words and seperate them. He'd sometimes use a belt on me.

Harry's eyes widened as soon as he said it. He had never spilt before - He would be in so much trouble!

Tom took three - four - ten calming breaths before shoving the even angrier Voldemort even further back into his mind. He then took several more calming breaths before responding. "I see." Tom stood up from his positon next to Harry on Tom's bed, and went for the door. "So, do you want to help me kill them?"

"NO!" Harry cried. "You can't! They'll know I told! Besides, it's your turn to tell me a secret, right? My cousin played this game once with his friends. They spin a bottle, and whoever it lands on has to tell a secret, but because there's two of us, it's your turn."

Tom thought it through for a minute, before telling Harry everything - Him being born in the past, His interruption from Death, and even that Harry was a Horcrux.

Harry's immediate response was, "I have a piece of your soul inside of me?! Takeitouttakeitouttakeitout!"

"Calm down, Harry!" Tom said, smiling. "I can take it out easily, but do you want to hear my..." Tom leaned close and whispered, "Master Plan?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Master Plan? We're like, Villains or something! Muahaha!" His evil laugh was more of a slightly-evil Teddy Bear laugh.

Tom smiled and then launched into his plan. Harry had fully agreed with his plan by the end of the explination, followed immediately by, "So, what is the next step in our plan?"

"Well," Tom said, "I had originally planned on staying in Riddle Manor, but you kind of interrupted me. So, what we could do, is we could burn the place down and escape, presumed 'dead', so the muggles don't look for us. Well, they'd look for you... But then the Wizards would find out... ooh, actually, that's a good plan. They'd assume you dead, too, then when we arrive at Hogwarts, You could be all like, Yeah, I've been alive this whole time. It's perfect! When do you want to start Phase Pyro of the plan?"

"How soon can we start? Oh, can you call that Squirrel fellow and have him do it?" Harry said.

"Quirrell? No, it'd be stupid to summon him for this. I'm sure he's vacationing somewhere nice.. Wait, no, it's the school year... plus we'd need a lift to the Manor... Yeah, Quirrell it is."

_Voldy, I demand of you to summon Quirrell to the park nearby. _Tom thought to Voldemort.

_I told you to stop using that infernal nickname - plus, moron, it's midnight. _Voldy responded, rolling his eyes.

_Even more perfect. Do it._ Tom said, standing up to start packing. Harry got the hint and followed suit, packing up their few possessions. Tom made sure to layer Harry with some of the better clothes, as they only had one winter cloak between the two of them.

Harry smiled as soon as they stepped outside, glancing at all of the snow everywhere. "Bye, Surrey. I'm not going to miss you much."

The building behind the two went up in flames as they apparated to Riddle Manor.

XxXxX

**I feel this chapter was rushed. And very long. Don't worry, the whole :Pride part of the title will be explained soon, but the Lumox part had been explained. Also, I feel like I spelt Villain wrong. A third note, we now have a cover. Like it? The symbol on his hand will be explained next chapter.**


	4. Riddle Manor

Harry and Tom, along with Quirrell, were apparated right outside of the manor wards. It was tall, looming over the three as they made their way up to the front doors. Someone had crudely carved the Dark Mark symbol into the door, which seemed rather stupid to Tom. It's like wearing a clown costume at a funeral. Nothing shouts Bad Guy's Base like their symbol carved in the door.

Tom thanked Quirrell before opening the doors to the entry hall. You could see up all three stories, the stairs going up to the second floor on either side of the room. There was a hallway to the left and right, as well as another set of elegant double doors parallel to the doors to the outside. The place was dusty from many years of misuse, but it would be cleaned with time.

When the door had closed behind them, the brackets for torches sensed their magic and all lit up. It was unusual, for a muggle house, but Voldemort had been quick to inform Tom that he had set the home up for better use during his war.

The double doors lead to a very long formal dining room. The left staircase had a small door in it, leading to the kitchens where House Elves would have usually been found. There were, however, none there at the time. The Left corridor lead into a family woom as well as a large, formal ball room. The Right corridor lead to an office, as well as a playroom. The toys in the room were all broken or burnt, and the walls had random spots of burns as well, as if Voldemort had used the room for training.

The Second Floor was set up similarly, with a drawing room behind the first set of doors you lay eyes on. There were five other rooms on the floor, each bedrooms with a bathroom attached.

The Third Floor contained nothing but doors to the Master Bedroom and Bathroom. Two of the four walls had been lined with books; the first wall had been occupied by the enormous bed, the third wall occupied by the railings looking out into the entry hall.

Harry and Tom decided that they would share the Master Bedroom, as there was no reason to take up more space in the large, dusty house than needed until they got it cleaned.

The next morning, they got to work. Harry was used to chores, having done them at the Dursleys, so Harry got the task of dusting the hallways for now. Tom had taken the master bedroom. They met together around noon in the Kitchen, where Harry had uncovered some cookable food from when the Death Eaters had been there.

Tom had talked with Voldemort between lunch and dinner, asking about any House Elves. He had gotten the response of, _I don't know! Just call up one of the Pureblood Supremacy Morons' Elves and use them. It's not like they don't have enough of them. Dobby was always annoying to me._

Just as a test, Tom had called "Dobby" into the space. Sure enough, a floppy-eared elf appeared out of thin air and bowed to the wizard.

"Whats can Dobby do for Master today?" Dobby then looked up and noticed that the Wizard who had called him was not the Dark Moron, but in fact, a younger child with the same magic pattern. "M-Master?" He asked, hesitantly.

"Yes, Dobby, I am the younger form of the Dark Lord." Tom smiled. "Now, Harry and I are planning on living here, but we can't ex-"

"Wait, sir, did yous say Harry? As in, Harry Potter, sir?" The Elf's eyes got wide and filled with hope.

Tom smiled wider, as he had gained a vital clue in how to treat the Elf in order to get the best service. "Yes, I am refering to the Great Harry Potter. Now, we can't go out and get our own food, as we're simply kids. Would you mind doing it for us?"

"Of course, Master, sir! Ah, but..." Dobby pulled on his ears. "Master Malloy would not like it, no he would not..."

Tom tipped his head sideways and thought. "Go and tell Lucius that his Lord needs to speak to him. Apparate him here directly, even if he refuses. He shouldn't refuse, of course, as I am his Lord. Go." Dobby apparated away.

Quickly, Tom got 'his' wand from the stand next to the bed and pushed Voldy to the front of his concious.

"-What?" He heard himself saying, but he didn't say it.

_God, this is weird._ Tom thought. _You are to do as I command; Make Malfoy give Dobby over to us. Do whatever is necessary._

Voldemort rolled their eyes, just as Lucius apparated in with Dobby.

"My Lord," were his first words, bowing down to his younger lord.

"Lucius." Voldemort's commanding tone said. "So, Lucius, do tell me; why did you never try to find me?"

"I-I-I..." He stuttered, his eyes glancing upward for a second. "I don't know, my Lord. After I managed to get out of Azkaban, I had planned on preparing for your return, but you never contacted any of us. It was easy to believe that..."

"That _what,_ Lucius? That I was truly defeated by a baby? _Hah_. I had prepared for defeat, had it been necessary. I am not going to die any time soon, fool. Here are your orders; Leave Dobby to me. I will need it. Also, you are to spread my... _revival_," He said the word as if it left a bad taste on his tongue, "But you are only to reveal this to other Death Eaters - those in the inner circle. Also, in regards to Harry Potter..." Voldemort walked up to the still-keeling Lucius and fingered the blonde's hair. Lucius shivered in fear. "As for Potter, we will try to get him out of Dumbledore's clutches. He would be good as the Dark Heir, would he not?" Voldemort smirked evilly, which looked absolutely horrid on Tom's face. "You are dismissed."

As soon as Lucius was out of the room, Tom shoved Voldy back and glanced at the corner of the Master Bedroom. "So, Harry, how long have you been there for?"

XxXxX

It's due tomorrow! I might only get to C7 by the end of the night. Reviewsies!


	5. Little Hangleton

"So, Harry, how long have you been there for?" Tom asked

"Long enough." Harry said. "_He would be good as the Dark Heir_," Harry mocked. "What was that about!? Is that really the only reason you wanted me to come with you? So I could be your Dark... Dark _Prince!?_"

"Harry..."

"What?"

Tom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "From that far away, could you see the color of my eyes or hear my tone of voice correctly? That was Lucius Malfoy; one of the highest ranking Death Eaters, and probably one of the smartest. He would know if something was off, so I let Voldemort take over long enough to get Dobby - Oh. Duh." Tom hit himself. "Harry, meet the House Elf Dobby. Dobby, this is Harry Potter."

The Floppy-eared creature stepped forward and made a sweeping bow. "Dobby is happy to sees you, sir, yes he is! The great Harry Potter, Sir! He who conquered the Dark Lord!"

"Uh... Hi." Harry said, his anger forgotten. "Do all House Elves speak in third person like that?"

"Yes, I believe so." Tom said. "Anyways, we have Dobby now. Dobby," He said, turning to the Elf, "Can you go out and stock the Kitchen. We'll be down for Dinner. Manual Labour is never a bad thing, and we're working on scrubbing the mansion."

"But, Sirs, Wizards should never clean! 'Tis a proud House Elf that cleans, sir!"

"I know this," Tom said, sighing. "There's three of us, and I want it done quickly. Therefore, we work together. Harry," He said, turning back to the Saviour, "Why did you come up in the first place anyways?"

"Oh!" Harry replied. "I finished the hallways and whatnot, so I was coming up to see if I could help with the Master room. I was thinking once we were done with the Master room, we could move on to the..."

Over the next three months, the three worked hard on getting the manor into top shape again. Once they were done with the Manor, they decided to go and work on the Garden, out back. Dobby gotten some wizarding flowers that sang when you passed by them, so those lined the path to the manor. After a privacy ward, they had gotten Dobby to levitate them so they could repaint the manor. It was fun, and took a good portion of the year.

Those in the village below gossiped. Who lived in the manor now? Was it _his_ son? Or worse - _him?_ The villagers still lived in fear of the snake-like creature that had resided in the manor not five years ago. His followers had tortured those in the village, and killed an even larger portion of them.

When the two boys came down to the village in the early days of summer, people were confused. Neither of them had an adult with them, yet they acted like adults themselves. The younger of the two was always nice, with his messy black hair and thin frame. The older looked exactly like Tom Senior, but acted much different than both Senior and Junior. He usually stood in the back, watching the younger one as he interacted. He nodded at certain actions, as if he was the teacher and had taught his student well.

It was a midsummer morning that the two went to the local tavern looking for a job.

The younger had introduced himself as Harry, no last name. The older had reluctantly gave his name, after the nudging of the younger one, and introduced himself as Tom Riddle the Third. People cast him weary looks at that. He looked nothing like the second Riddle.

Yet the two were still hired. Tom had been given washing dishes, as he was not a people person, while Harry had been given the task of waiting on tables. Both were tedious jobs, but payed decently.

It was several years later, after the two had established good ties in the town of Little Hangleton, that they informed the locals that they might be leaving.

The two had recieved a letter to a boarding school in the country, and might not come back. Oh, they were planning on it, definately, but they were rather pessimistic about it, as if they knew that something, or rather someone, was going to keep them from returning.

They called it Hogwarts, but none had heard of the mysterious boarding school.

"It starts on September first," Harry said with a smile to John, one of the older regulars at the tavern. "I heard it's supposed to be _fantastic!_" Everyone could hear the excitement in his voice. "There's one hundred and fourty two staircases in the building - did I mention it's a Castle! It's true! My parents used to go there - it was actually where they met!" People were truly listening now. It wasn't often that Harry or Tom gave up information about their parents - or any other information, for that fact. The two were only slightly less of a mystery as they were five years ago. "Of course, they didn't like eachother in the beginning. My mum liked this other guy who had no friends, and my dad was a jerk back then. In their fifth year there - it's a seven year school - the guy called her a really rude word, and she left him for my dad! At least, that's what my source said. He's not very reliable at the best of times. The guy she left teaches at the school, so I'd have to pester him into telling me more!" The people laughed. It was a well known fact that when Harry wanted to know something, he learned whatever it was before the day gave out.

"We have to go to this super cool location to get our school stuff, too. It's called - "

"Harry!" Tom said from the bar. He had been promoted a year after starting. Tom had lightened up after the first few months, after watching Harry be so open with people. It was a weakness, yes, but also one of his greatest strengths. No one that open with people would have alterior motives. Or so they thought.

"What, Tom?" Harry said, picking up the plate from the counter.

"You are ranting again." He shook his head, disbelievingly.

Harry blinked at Tom twice before finishng his speach. "It's called Diagon Alley!"

XxXxX

"Welcome teh Diagon Alley!" claimed the half-giant, Hagrid.


	6. Trains

"Welcome teh Diagon Alley!" The half-giant Hagrid said. He had picked them up earlier to get their things, and seemed surprised to see that Harry and Tom were in the same place. Tom had only gotten a letter because of Lucius.

In the beginning, Hagrid nearly had a Heart Attack when he saw Tom, as they were very close in years at Hogwarts. He looked downright relieved when Tom claimed himself to be the third, not the second.

At Diagon Alley, they got their trunks first, as well as an expandable, never breaking backpack. They were using Harry's money, which he didn't mind. With the backpacks, they got their books next. They were mindful of what they had in the Manor's library; they had found it in the basement of all places! During that first month in the manor, Harry and Tom alternated days catagorizing the books in the manor first by catagory - Defence, Charms, etc. - then by ranking - Dark, Light, Borderline, etc. - then by level - beginner, intermediate, expert, etc.

Most of the books ended up being rather dark, so they needed more copies of light books. No big surprise.

Hagrid had to drag them away from the bookstore with only 15 books each, on top of their school books. Voldemort hadn't kept any of his.

After this was the Robes, where they made conversation with Draco Malfoy.

"So, going to Hogwarts too, I assume?"

"Yes, that's right." Harry said, smiling.

Draco scowled. "And what about.. _you?_" He sneered the last word, looking over Tom. Both of them had been wearing muggle clothing, but Tom's jeans had ripped one day. He had rather liked it, but obviously, the Malfoy Heir didn't think so.

A single flash of the back of Tom's right hand had made Draco go pale.

After Lucius had visited the first time, Harry had remembered about the piece of Voldemort's soul stuck inside of him. The two locked their hands, Tom's right and Harry's left, then said 'Lumox' in unison. It had branded a symbol into the back of their hands (and made them pass out due to the sheer magic reflex, but neither of them would ever admit it). The symbol was a five-pointed star inside a circle, the top of the star pointing upwards off of their hand. The top connector line was missing off of the star, and the top half of the circle was missing as well. Harry's star was trimmed in Red, while Tom's was Purple. The only other difference between the two was that Harry's star tip was white, the section vertical of it black, while Tom's was the opposite. Other than that, the other four sections in the star were red and blue on the outside edges, yellow and green on the inner edges.

When Lucius had visited the second time and asked about it, Tom had told him that it was a symbol to give him strength. Since Tom didn't have the distinguishing features of a Snake Hybrid Freak, he told Lucius to tell the others that the mark would be how they identified him.

Draco didn't say much to Tom for the rest of their time in Madame Malkin's, but settled on small talk with Harry about which house they would get into.

After robes was a wand. Tom, of course, had his match.

Harry's was Tom's brother wand. How odd.

They then went to the pet shop, where Harry had gotten a Snowy Owl named Hedwig. Tom had seen the store owner trying to deal with a beautiful red ashwinder snake, so Tom decided that he wanted it.

Hagrid loved the snake, as it was a potentially dangerous creature, and approved of the purchase.

They went back home later, after some ice cream, and spent the last of their vacation reading up on what they needed to.

XxXxX

September First approached much quicker than either had realised. Dobby apparated the two to the station at ten in the morning, where they met up with Draco. They split up here, as they needed to activate Plan Contact of the Master Plan.

Draco was downright terrifed of Tom's very presence, something that many to-be-Slytherins were quick to notice.

"So, Drakey, who is this?" Pansy Parkinson asked, attaching herself to Draco's arm.

"Th-this is L-l-l..." He cleared his throat. "T-T-Tom. H-His n-n-n-name is T-T-Tom."

Tom glanced at Draco before holding his hand out for Pansy. "My name is Tom Riddle. Pleased to meet you." Pansy shook his hand, but he ended up giving into his instincts and kissed her hand.

She blushed and smiled, blinking rapidly.

_Well, Voldy-boy, we still got it._ Tom said to him.

_Got what, exactly? _Voldemort asked, dreading the answer.

_Charm, of course!_

Voldemort sighed. _Sometimes, I wonder where I went wrong with you._

The rest of the trip was spent rather boringly.

Harry, however, was having more fun than Tom, as Harry was not going to be a part of Slytherin Politics.

Harry had met four people; Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy.

Ron had joined his compartment at the beginning, claiming no where else was full.

It was a lie, but Harry decided not to call him out on it.

Hermione then came in, asking if anyone had seen a Toad.

Harry calmly responded with advice about how Toads like dark, damp spaces. She then saw Ron's wand out, which was what Harry had been avoiding. She had the air of a know-it-all.

His assumptions were proved correct when she went on, "Oh, are you trying magic? Lets see it then!"

Ron nodded and said,

"Daisy, Sunshine, Buttermellow/

Turn this stupid, fat rat Yellow."

Harry shook his head, trying to contain laugher, when Hermione said, "Well, it's not very _good,_ is it? I've memorised all of our course books by heart, of course. I, personally, think magic is fascinating! I'm the first one in my family to have magic. We were _ever _so surprised! Oh, I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. And _you_ are?"

She said it very fast.

"Well, I'm Harry." He said. "Ron, really, that spell was no good. Your brothers were pulling your leg. Most spells that we will learn are based in Latin, with the exception of a few. Of course, that's why I said 'spells that we well learn'. We're British wizards, so we'll learn British magic. Wizards in Egypt wouldn't use the same spells."

Both had wide eyes and were staring at Harry as if he had sprouted a third, fire breathing head.

"What?" He asked after a minute of stunned silence.

This was, apparently, all Hermione needed in order to go off on a speech about Magic and it's incorrect origins.

That was when Neville opened the door. He tearily asked if they had seen a toad. He then caught sight of Hermione.

"Hermione, weren't you helping me?"

"What?" She asked, then turned to the door. "Oh! Neville! I'm sorry, I just got sidetracked! Of course! Harry had suggested somewhere dark and damp..." She walked off and kept talking to Neville.

It was half an hour later that Draco came to the train, sneering.

"So, I've heard that Harry Potter is on this train. Is it true then? Are you him?"

Harry glanced at the bleach-blonde and wondered idly what had happened to Tom.

"I don't need to know who _you _are," He said, refering to Ron. "Red hair, freckles, hand-me-downs. You must be a _W-_"

His sneering was interrupted by a certain Young Dark Lord, who looked rather like he had just woken up.

Draco paled when he realised who's hand was on his mouth, and immediately started apologizng when Tom let him go. Draco was then dragged back to their compartment by his collar.

All in all, it wasn't an eventful trip past that.


End file.
